The Hasso Plattner Institute offers degree programs in “IT Systems Engineering” that are unique Germany-wide. It is a practical form of computer science study that places special emphasis on the conception and development of complex software systems. The education at Hasso Plattner Institute is tuition free.

Research in HPI’s topic areas is carried out in Potsdam and internationally at the Hasso Plattner Institute Research School. It is distinguished by its high scientific standard, practical approach and close cooperation with industry. The primary focus of HPI’s research is on highly complex IT systems.

Hasso Plattner Institute holds an unique position on the landscape of German universities. Research and teaching are concentrated in the area of IT systems engineering. The highly ranked Bachelor, Master and PhD degree programs have a high practical and innovation orientation. Design Thinking spans a bridge between Hasso Plattner Institute in Potsdam and Hasso Plattner Institute of Design in Stanford.

The Hasso Plattner Institute has educational programs for both high school students and working professionals. It operates its own IT learning platform - openHPI - which provides free online courses. The Youth Academy organizes computer science camps and events for high school students. Professionals can take advantage of educational opportunities in the field of Design Thinking at the HPI Academy.

Studying Online with Hasso Plattner: New Software Course at openHPI.de

09.08.2013

Potsdam. Starting on August 26th, Internet users from all over the world can study online with Prof. Hasso Plattner, co-founder and chairman of the supervisory board of SAP. OpenHPI.de is the learning platform of the German Hasso Plattner Institute for Software Systems Engineering (HPI), the institute of higher learning founded by Plattner at the University of Potsdam. Hasso Plattner is teaching the latest six-week online course in the new in-memory database technology. The in-memory data management researched at HPI and developed with SAP enables the flexible evaluation of huge amounts of data at lightning speed – something which would have previously taken hours or even days.

Participation is free in the course, which will be held in English. There are no entrance requirements to attend. Registration can be done online at https://openhpi.de/imdb. Around 6000 interested parties have already signed up for the course. Those who complete the course successfully will receive a certificate signed by Plattner. The so-called Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) of openHPI are embedded in an interactive learning network. This means that participants have the opportunity to enter into exchange about the subject matter with Plattner, his scientific staff and fellow participants. At HPI, Plattner directs the research area “Enterprise Platform and Integration Concepts.” Since 2007 applications of the revolutionary in-memory database technology have been researched at HPI under his leadership and developed together with SAP. Both partners received the German Innovation Award for their work in 2012.

Plattner’s current course on in-memory data management is the updated and enhanced version of the course he gave that launched the openHPI learning platform on September 3, 2012. Special attention is now being devoted to the achievement of short response times for complex evaluations while having numerous, simultaneous user queries. There is also a new option for instantaneous analyses, as demonstrated on the basis of retail sales data. Overall the new course offers 36 instructional videos from Plattner, comprehensive reading material for an intensive study of the subject, online tests to self-check learning progress, homework and an online final exam.

openHPI: Modeled on Massive Open Online Courses (MOOC)

The Internet educational platform from Hasso Plattner Institute (HPI), openHPI.de, offers freely accessible online courses at no charge to all who are interested. There are no participation requirements. The platform is unique worldwide as the contents are focused on information technology and computer science with the courses offered in German as well as English. Open.hpi follows in the footsteps of “Massive Open Online Courses,” which have been offered since 2011, first at Stanford University and then at other U.S. elite universities. In contrast to “traditional” lecture platforms, at open.hpi the courses offered follow a fixed six-week time schedule – with a defined set of offerings such as instructional videos, texts, self-tests, regular homework and exam questions. The course content is combined with a social discussion platform where participants have the opportunity to interact with instructors and other course members. Here, for example, they can get answers to questions and discuss the topics in depth. The participants decide themselves about the type and range of their learning activities. They can make personal contributions to the course, for example, in blog posts or tweets, which they can reference in the forum. In turn, other participants have the chance to comment on, discuss or expand on what has been said. In this way, learners become teachers and the subject matter offered to a virtual community is linked to a social learning network.

Profile of Hasso Plattner Institute

The Hasso Plattner Institute for Software Systems Engineering GmbH (HPI) in Potsdam is Germany’s university excellence center for IT Systems Engineering. It is the only university institution in Germany offering bachelor and master programs in “IT Systems Engineering” – a practical and engineering-oriented study program in computer science, in which currently 450 students are enrolled. The HPI School of Design Thinking is Europe’s first innovation school and is based on the Stanford model of the d.school. It offers 240 places for a supplementary study. There are a total of ten HPI professors and over 50 guest professors, lecturers and contracted teachers at the Institute. HPI carries out research noted for its high standard of excellence in its nine topic areas, as well as at the HPI Research School for PhD candidates, with its further research branches in Cape Town, Haifa and Nanjing. HPI teaching and research focuses on the foundation and application of large-scale, highly complex and interconnected IT systems. The development and exploration of user-driven innovations for all sectors of life is an additional area of importance. HPI always earns the highest positions in the CHE university ranking.